Remembering 9/11 While Condemning America
Friday, September 12th, 2008
Campaign politics came to a halt yesterday as Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama both attended ceremonies at the pit where the World Trade Center proudly stood as a symbol of the American free enterprise system prior to September 11, 2001. Families of victims and dignitaries gathered in Arlington, Virginia in the morning to dedicate a memorial to those who perished in the attack on the Pentagon that day. Others visited the temporary memorial at the crash site of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania where valiant Americans charged armed hijackers and thwarted their attack on the United States Capitol. Nearly all Americans regardless of political persuasions honored those who died on that horrible day seven years ago. (more…)
Speaking to the Israeli Knesset last Thursday President George W. Bush reminded all who would listen that appeasement in the face of aggression has a history of failure. While Bush failed to name anyone in particular a whole flock of birds raised their heads as if to heed the call at a county fair turkey shoot. Among those who took offense at the President’s statement was Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama whose reaction was as though the statements were directed specifically at him, stating 
Latin American politics entered the spotlight with the saber rattling of Venezualian President Hugo Chavez threatening to mass troops along the Columbian border after Columbian forces mounted a successful military stike resulting in the death of 
Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan on October 18th of this year greeted by welcoming crowds of political supporters estimated to reach 200,000. Her procession in a staged rally for her homecoming was attacked by a suicide bomber killing 140 of her supporters but missing Benazir. She would not be so fortunate this last Thursday when she was assassinated with another 20 supporters dying from the bomb blast little two months after her triumphant return. 
A truce that had existed between Pakistan’s Army and the Taliban has been stretched by recent events, including the kidnapping of Korean missionaries that brought international pressure on Musharraf’s government. But the truce was shattered recntly when Taliban fighters ambushed a military convoy and took 100 soldiers hostage. In the interim, some 250 casualties have resulted from the military reprisals which included artiliry barrages and airstrikes. The incident is the highest level of conflict between the military and insurgents since 2004. 
General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker presented concise summaries along with two days of testimony to House and Senate Committees on the current situation in Iraq and the consequences of the surge. Though their reports and testimony were anything but rosy, some Liberal Democrats maintained their posture that these were embellished to suit the posture of the Bush Administration. In fact, they were somber assessments of the challenges we face in helping Iraq realize a stable secular government and achieving security for the region. 
The clamor of Senators preaching the failures of our military leadership was as if they were Roman and Caesar just crossed the Rubicon. The Senators joined MoveOn.org in flooding the media with propaganda dispelling any successes anticipated in the report from General Petraeus, Commander of Multi-National Force Iraq . The report from the General was to be discredited at any cost lest the ability of the Democratic Congress to manage the conflict and to end it with the Bush Administration, whatever the repercussions, would be lost.